Band of Horses, 'Cease to Begin' (Sub Pop)

Everything echoes in Band of Horses' stable, bestowing a hazy gravity upon songs shaped from the simplest of ingredients: lazy snare snaps, gentle guitar, and Ben Bridwell's towering tenor, which suggests both Wayne Coyne and Neil Young but imitates neither. The reverb bath works on everything from Crazy Horse-like micro-epics ("Cigarettes, Wedding Bands") to grittier rockers (the monumental opener, "Is There a Ghost") to plainspoken joy bombs ("Ode to LRC," which repeats the line "The world is such a wonderful place"). Every sound lingers, and each stretched-out moment is welcome.